Marine faces hearing in intelligence breach

OVERVIEW

Background: Five Marines have been charged or convicted in the aftermath of a significant intelligence breach at Camp Pendleton.

What's new: One of those servicemen, Maj. Mark Lowe, underwent a hearing yesterday that will help determine whether he will go to trial.

The future: At least two other people have been named in the investigation, but they haven't been charged.

The first Marine officer to see the inside of a courtroom for his alleged role in a large Camp Pendleton intelligence breach faced the military version of a grand jury hearing yesterday.

During an Article 32 hearing on the base, Marine prosecutors said Maj. Mark Lowe, 46, allowed classified information to flow from his elite intelligence unit to a Los Angeles County terrorism task force in the name of homeland security.

Certain regulations ban or restrict such activity.

Lowe's defense team pinned the smuggling on others in his intelligence “cell” — several of whom have been charged or convicted — and said there's no evidence Lowe was involved.

The government's case is that a handful of Camp Pendleton Marines gave classified data to Col. Larry Richards, an activated reservist who led the unit before returning to his civilian job as a Los Angeles County sheriff's deputy in 2004.

When not in the military, Richards worked with the Sheriff's Deparment's Terrorism Early Warning Group. He solicited his old Marine unit to give him inside military intelligence about alleged terrorist activity.

Prosecutor Maj. Sean Dunn said the smuggling was “open and notorious” and done under Lowe's nose. He also said that in 2006, after Richards' other accomplices left the unit, Lowe sought classified information from an intelligence analyst for his former colonel.

“He went from a passive to an active role,” Dunn said.

Lowe's lawyers called the alleged smuggling an “elaborate plan that only Tom Clancy could write about.”

Capt. Joseph Grimm also said testimony will show that Gen. James Conway, the Marine commandant, and Lt. Gen. James Mattis knew the leak was going on. “They didn't seem to mind,” Grimm said.

A Marine investigating officer is overseeing the Article 32 hearing, and he will later recommend whether Lowe should be court-martialed.

Four other Marines have been charged in the theft case, including Richards, who was recalled to active duty and awaits an Article 32 hearing.

The others are Master Sgt. Reinaldo Pagan, who was convicted and received a 60-day prison sentence, a $600 fine and loss of one rank; Gunnery Sgt. Eric Froboese, who pleaded guilty and awaits sentencing; and Gunnery Sgt. Gary Maziarz, who pleaded guilty and got a 26-month prison sentence, a dishonorable discharge and reduction to the rank of private.